Syngenta sales rise 1 percent in first half of 2014

ZURICH, July 23 (Reuters) - Syngenta AG, the world’s largest maker of crop chemicals, said on Wednesday sales rose in the first half of the year by 1 percent.

The Swiss company, which makes products to kill weeds and bugs as well as genetically-modified seeds, said sales in the first half of the year were $8.5 billion

Net profit fell by 1 percent to $1.4 billion.

Sales rose 2 percent to $3.8 billion in the second quarter of the year, falling short of the Reuters analyst consensus of $3.9 billion.

“In the second half of the year we expect an acceleration of sales growth driven by Latin America... On this basis we continue to expect full year integrated sales growth of around 6 percent at constant exchange rates,” Chief Executive Mike Mack said in a statement. (Reporting by Joshua Franklin)